“What the F**k You Looking at?”: Michael Cooper Claims Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Wasn’t Welcoming During Their First Interaction

Joseph Galizia | 07/02/2025
Michael Cooper (L) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (R)

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was one of the greatest scorers basketball ever saw, but that doesn’t mean he was an easy teammate to deal with. The six-time NBA Champion for the Los Angeles Lakers was known to have a reserved nature, which often saw him be rude to his peers. Fellow Lakers legend Michael Cooper attested to this, and shared details of his first-ever interaction with Abdul-Jabbar during a recent interview on “All The Smoke”.

Cooper told the show hosts that he was nervous to meet Kareem when he walked into the gym for his first Lakers practice. He recalled seeing the Hall of Famer shooting his signature Sky-Hook, then revealed the first words that KAJ said to him…and they were not kind.

“He looks at me, he goes, ‘Hey man what the f**k you looking at?’ I said, ‘I’m sorry I’m jus-‘ he said ‘F**king locker room is over there go and get your sh*t ready.’ This Kareem. First time I ever met him.”

While the reclusive Abdul-Jabbar may have been testy that day, he eventually formed a bond with Cooper and the rest of that Lakers team—including rookie Magic Johnson—who played a huge role in the team’s 1980 championship win. Overall, Cooper was part of five of the championship teams that the 77-year-old played in.

KAJ may have been aggressive with Cooper back in the 80s, but he knew the latter worked hard. The six-time NBA MVP said some really nice things about the legendary defender after “finally” getting inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2024.

Michael Cooper wasn’t the only one to get a bad first impression from KAJ

Kareem’s knack for rubbing people the wrong way even extended outside of the basketball universe. Famous rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson once had an encounter with the iconic Laker at an airport, but the meeting did not go over well. At the time, 50 Cent wrote the following on Instagram:

“Yo i was in the airport one time, i looked i said oh sh*t that’s Kareem abduljabar. I went and said what’s up, he looked at me like i was crazy, I said oh sh*t well f**k you then, you old ass n***a I don’t give a f**k about a sky hook n***a, n***as been trying to kill me sh****ttt f**k you. I was mad i said something to his ass.”

Safe to say, 50 Cent may not get the same acknowledgment that Cooper eventually got from Kareem, but it’s nice to know that even in his old age The Captain still knows how to get someone mad.

Post Edited By: Satagni Sikder
50 Cent Kareem Abul-Jabbar Michael Cooper

About the author

Joseph Galizia

Joseph is a Las Vegas based actor and circus performer. For the last seven years he's had the pleasure of covering sports for multiple outlets, including the Lifestyles section of Sports Illustrated. In that time, he's conducted over 50 interviews with athletes, filmmakers, and company founders to further cement his footprint in the journalism world. He's excited to bring that skillset to the SportsRush, where he'll be covering the NBA news cycle.

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